Help is out there
January 24, 2011
Posted by:Alison Hinder
It is a common theme in our military compensation claims that service personnel did not know that they could bring a claim against the Ministry of Defence. Even more alarmingly, we often find that our clients across all branches of the armed forces don’t know about the help that is available through charitable organisations. This problem often surfaces whilst our clients are being medically or administratively discharged. We can point them towards organisations like Combat Stress, a charity specialising in the care of veterans' mental health, or the range of services available from the Royal British Legion, for example. There is no criticism that can be levied against the organisations themselves, but surely information on the possibility of claiming both in the courts and from welfare services should be passed on by the chain of command; these veterans shouldn’t have to wait until they come to us. If the Ministry of Defence widely publicised the help that is available then maybe some psychiatric and physical injuries could be avoided.